Closing the Gap: Meeting California's Need for College Graduates

Estimates the state's shortage in highly educated workers in 2025 and outlines ways to raise college attendance rates, transfer rates from community colleges, and graduation rates from four-year institutions to help close the gap. Discusses policy issues

Field Induced Supersolid Phase in Spin-One Heisenberg Models

We use quantum Monte Carlo methods to demonstrate that the quantum phase diagram of the S=1 Heisenberg model with uniaxial anisotropy contains an extended supersolid phase. We also show that this Hamiltonian is a particular case of a more general and ubiquitous model that describes the low energy spectrum of a class of {\it isotropic} and {\it frustrated} spin systems. This crucial result provides the required guidance for finding experimental realizations of a spin supersolid state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Biosafety at the crossroads: An analysis of South Africa's marketing and trade policies for genetically modified products

"South Africa is the only country in Africa that has both adopted genetically modified (GM) crops and developed a functional biosafety system to manage any risks related to the use of GM products. But it is also one of the only countries that trade both GM and non-GM crops, despite being surrounded by countries banning the use of GM products. In this paper, we analyze the marketing and trade policies for GM products in South Africa that have been successful in the past and critically review recent reforms to these policies. By providing trade volume estimates of potentially GM products, we show that South Africa is effectively a significant exporter and importer of both GM and non-GM products. We then show that although its import approval system has been effective, recent reforms have allowed regulators to use biosafety regulations as an apparent nontariff barrier to trade. On the export side, South Africa has been able to adapt to each specific demand, but potential export risks have gradually entered the decisionmaking process through the inclusion of socioeconomic considerations. On the marketing side, we show that although non-GM maize segregation has been successful so far, it has generated some adjustment costs and could be improved. At the same time, by excluding all current GM products, the GM food labeling regulation in place has not been fully satisfactory and is bound to change; it could be heading toward a strict mandatory system, despite limited public demand. Therefore, there is a clear movement toward more costly and rigid trade and marketing regulations for GM products in South Africa, with local special-interest groups having an increasing influence on decisionmaking. Yet, the past 10 years have demonstrated that South Africa's success in taking advantage of biotechnologies under changing global conditions stems mainly from its adaptation capacity and the flexibility of its system. Based on the analysis presented in this paper, we provide six policy recommendations to improve rather than rigidify market and trade regulations—policies that would allow South Africa to better adapt to global changes, to manage risks rigorously but efficiently, and to take advantage of safe and potentially promising new GM technologies." from authors' abstractTrade regulations, Genetically modified crops, Marketing, trade policies, Genetically modified products, Biosafety, Genetic resources, Science and technology,

The microfinance revolution: an overview

The Nobel Prize committee awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below." The microfinance revolution has come a long way since Yunus first provided financing to the poor in Bangladesh. The committee has recognized microfinance as "an important liberating force" and an "ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty." Although several authors have provided comprehensive surveys of microfinance, our aim is somewhat more modest: This article is intended as a non-technical overview on the growth and development of microcredit and microfinance.Bank loans ; Credit ; Poverty